An Emotional Armagedon
by FawnsongofThunderclan
Summary: Rikki is running for her life, and she has no idea why. All she knows is that theres a really good chance that she'll die. When she's sure that her time is up she finds refuge at a regular summer camp she thinks. She finds out that she's NOT normal. She's a halfblood which means that she's only half-human. While shes at Camp Halfblood she meets the guys of her dreams - all of them
1. Chapter 1

Running, running, that's all I've ever known. Not really, but it sure feels like it. I've only been on the run since, well, since, the week after my thirteenth birthday, I think. I'll be fourteen in December. It's February first tomorrow.

What am I running from? I myself don't even really know. But from what I understand, they all want to kill me. I've caught brief glances of some of my chasers. They're huge, most of them, all of them completely unnatural. Cyclopes. Giants. And... ginormous flying pigs?

I'm pretty sure there's someone following me, but not to hurt me, to protect me. I think that because evry time I think 'this is it, I'm gonna die, and nobody will know that I'm gone or miss me' the unnatural being is gone, as if it were never there. I can rest safely, not worry about dying in my sleep, or starving to death, or dying of an injury.

I don't know where I am now, but I DO know where I started. I started running from the coast of South Carolina, although I was born and raised in Texas. My family and I were on vacation there for my birthday; December twentieth. It's a good thing I got lots of clothes and a nice big backpack for Christmas. Otherwise I'd be on the run with nothing. I recently got to see a map. I'm twenty miles away from the Pennsylvania border. That won't take me too long, I was on my school track team. I could get to the Pennsylvania welcome center by tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.: ALL CHAPTERS WILL BE SOMEWHAT SHORT, BUT THERE WILL BE LOTS OF THEM. P.M. IF YOU HAVE AN IDEAS FOR THE STORY.**

I _finally _made it to the welcome center. There are vending machines and somewhat clean bathrooms. If I hide well enough, they won't even know that I'm here, and I can sleep here tonight. I have about seventeen dollars in change, enough to buy some chips and a drink and still have some money for... however long I'll be on the run.

I can't really find a good place to take a nap in here, because I'm definitley _not_ sleeping outside. I could try sneaking into the staff lounge, and find a couch to rest on. No one would find me, would they?

It's morning now, close to seven a.m., and I've been running for over an hour. I woke up because I heard someone - or something - trying to pick the lock on the staff room door, and I don't think it was an employee. I grabbed a map of the Northeast states, and I've set my goal as New York City by Friday. I think I can do it, it's only Saturday, afterall.


	3. Chapter 3

It's been three days, and I'm over half way to to NYC. I'm making good progress, but I think it's because I haven't slept in two days, which isn't _too _bad, because I didn't get to sleep at _all _the first week.

I think the sleep deprivation is kicking in. I'm feeling extremely nausious, and I'm now barley able to keep my footing. I _need_ to stop somewhere. Only problem: I'm in the middle of nowhere - almost.

Technically, I'm inside the city limits of some backwoods mining town, and have been for fifteen minutes, but I haven't seen any signs of civilization. My only choice is to keep going, for who _knows _how long.

I've seen a few houses - which is good. It means I'm closer to finding a public building. I don't think I can hold out much longer though. My vision fades in and out, I've collapsed a few times, and I'm barley able to keep my self from puking up what little nutrients are in my stomach.

Finally! A library! I'm going to have to ask if I can use their restroom, even though they probably won't let me. I can't take it anymore! I'm going to throw up, and there's nothing I can do about it. I find a nearby tree - just in time to. It feels like there is no end - that I will spend eternity just leaning against this tree, hurling up everything I've ever eaten.

Before I can even get up agian, I begin to sob. I sob, and sob, and sob. I sob so much, I make myself start to throw up again, but this time it's nothing but stomach acid, and it burns my throat.

It's getting dark, so I decide to climb the tree. Very slowly, I make my way to a part of the tree where a group of branches form a sort of nest, almost. I lay down, and start to sob again, and cry myself to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

When I wake up, I can hear nothing but silence. It's still dark outside, so I decide to try to fall back asleep. I roll over onto my back, and look up at the stars. I can't see them, and it's not just because of the branches above my head. There's someone up there! I think it's my guardian, probably sent by some agency or something to make sure I don't die, but I'm not supposed to see them.

I'm thinking about climbing up there to get a better look at them, but decide it's too risky. What if they see me? What if they're _not_ trying to keep me alive? So many questions whirling about in my head, all with my survival in mind. I'm already comfortable, and it's not raining, so I decide just to go back to sleep. Maybe they'll still be there in the morning, and I can meet them and we can travel together until we reach, well any safe place really. These are my last thoughts as I drift off, letting dreams overcome me.

In my dreams, I see a place I've never been before, yet somehow I know exactly where it is. It's on Manhattan Island, near the coast. I can see people wearing orange T-shirts doing lots of activities. Archery, canoeing, racing chariots, Pegasus riding? Everything looks like so much fun, and I know in my heart, with every ounce of my soul, that I will be safe here. Nothing would harm me.

There are three guys, all of them older than me, sitting at a table underneath a pavilion. One of them notices me. He looks about fifteen, with very dark brown curly hair and brown eyes, darker skin than mine, and a smile that seems rather permanent.

He flashes his toothy grin at me, and beckons for me to come sit with them. He nudges his friends with his elbow, getting their attention, getting them to glance at me. The last image I get from the dream is all three of them facing me, smiling at me.

I - regrettably - am woken up at the sound of what I think might be a growl somewhere in the forest. I have to get up and leave. _Now. _I'm not too high up, so I just jump down onto the ground. I give myself a moment to mentally go through my checklist of things, before starting to sprint, full speed ahead. I've been putting a dot on my map where ever and whenever I stop for the night. Right now, I'm right smack dab in the middle of the Pennsylvania forest, not too far from the shoreline.

I run until I find a fast-food restaurant - a Wendy's, I think. I order something really small, I don't have much money left. When the employee behind the counter goes to make my food, I take all the money out of all the tip jars and donation boxes. I feel bad about it, sort of, but I _need_ this money. The guy turns back around and hands me my food. I say thanks and then sprint out the door.

I run until I find a thick part of the woods. I sit and scarf down my food, but go slow on the soda, it's only a small. I count up all the change that I... borrowed... permanently... without asking. I can't bring myself to say that I stole it. I "borrowed" fifteen twenty-seven. That doubles my money. If I keep "borrowing" money from fast-food restaurants, by the time I get to New York state, I should be able to catch a cab to the island sound, where that camp is, and see if the camp counselors or directors or whoever will let me stay.

Here I go again, sprinting as hard and as far as I can, without fainting, of course.

It's been almost six hours, and I'm tired and hungry, but, yet again, I'm in the middle of nowhere. There are plenty of trees, bushes, and undergrowth, so I just find some ferns and leaves, and break off some branches from some bushes, and climb a tree. I pull some limbs together, and weave them in to form a rather comfortable tree-mattress.

I pull out the two jackets I have in my bag. I put one on, and lay the other one on my legs. I curl up into a ball, and fix my jacket. I eventually drift off to sleep, my thoughts centered around the person I saw in the branches above me last night.


	5. Chapter 5

I'm not exactly sure what wakes me. A sound? A smell? I think I feel breathing down my neck. No, I don't _think_ I feel breathing down my neck, I really _do _feel breathing down my neck. Starting to panic, I lash out, punching whatever - whoever - is breathing on me, then leap out of the tree, barley remembering to grab my stuff as I'm jumping.

Not caring enough to even _try _to pace myself, I sprint through the trees, not stopping for almost fifteen minutes. When I finally _do_ stop, I collapse, just lying on the, warm, soft ground. My sides are heaving hard. Harder than I ever thought possible. I'm a sweaty, tired, hungry, thirsty mess - and I mean that quite literally. I haven't been able to brush my hair - or my teeth, I'm embarrassed to admit. I don't have any deoderant, but I really do need to get some. I've managed to "borrow" some money from other places, so I might have enough to buy some - if I can find a little convenience store.

I go through my stuff, making sure I have everything. I start walking, not running yet. It looks like it'll probably start storming later. Great. Just what I need, considering I don't have an umbrella or a raincoat or anything. _Ugh. I guess I'd better start running now, so I can get as far as I can before it starts raining._ I think, begining to sprint.

After sprinting for a while, I see a building, not really sure what it is or where it is, but I think it's somewhere in New Jersey. There are lots of stone statues outside on the front lawn part of the property. They all kinda creep me out, and there are tons of them. Mostly people, but there are some others, too. Like a satyr playing reed pipes, a giant bear, and what I think are actual gnomes.

I decide to go inside; it's already started raining. When I get in there, I call out.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" No response. At all. I continue on in - cautiously though.

No one tries to stop me as I walk through the building. It's strange, but it's good news for me.

I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, but I find a food court type area in the back. I make myself a double cheeseburger, a giant chocolate milkshake, and as many fries as will fit on the tray. There's no money anywhere around here - from what I can tell. It's alright, though. This is all free, so I'm not losing anything.

After probably half an hour, I'm finished and am ready to go. It's late, but if I'm lucky - which I'm usually not - I'll be able to catch a bus to Manhattan. Then I can find that camp that I saw in my dream.

I look at my watch. It's eight fourty-five. The last bus should leave sometime around ten, if they don't run twenty-four hours. I decide to try to catch one. Maybe I'll be lucky for once.

I make it to the bus station and, sure enough, I manage to catch the last bus of the day.

"How far will thirty-four eighty-nine get me?" I ask the lady at the ticket counter.

"It'll get you to the Manhattan Greyhound station with twelve dollars left over. It's the last stop."

Perfect. It'll get me as far as I need with money left over for a cab.

I thank her and purchase a ticket. As I wait for the bus, My thoughts drift to the person in the trees. Do they want to hurt me or help me? Who are they in the first place? What would they possibly get or want from me? If they're hoping for a ransom, they sure as heck aren't going to get it. My family doesn't know where I am, and neither do any of my freinds.

The bus pulls up, and I get on with about five or six other people. After everyone's on and seated, we set off. It's late, and I can't help but fall asleep.

My dreams are nice. I'm back at that camp, but this time I'm sitting with the three guys. Now I can see them clearly, even though I can't hear anything that they're saying. The one with the permanent smile looks sort of Hispanic. He looks older than me by three or four years. The boy I'm sitting next to is really pale with messy black hair and a black leather jacket. He seems to be the youngest out of the three, probably about my age. The boy across from me is obviously the oldest, probably like sixteen or seventeen. He has black hair, too, but really, really pretty green eyes. Wait - where did that come from? It looks like they're about to say something to me, but before they can, my eyes snap open and I'm awake.

"Lat stop!" calls the bus driver. I jump up and sprint off the bus with my bag. The first thing I do is catch a cab.

The cabby asks me where I'm going.

"Get me as far down the sound as you can for twelve dollars. And step on it."

"Alright, kid." he says, taking the money.

He starts out slow as we get out of the busy streets, but as soon as we see the sound, he floors it. When the meter runs out, I thank him and get out of the cab.

I don't really recognize my surroundings, but I have a feeling that I'm close to that camp. I start to run in the direction that I think the camp is in. I hope I'm right. If not, I'm screwed.

It's very pretty out here in the countryside. No noise. No people. No cars. I really like it. It reminds me of home.

After running for what feels like forever, I see a sign that says _Delphi Strawberry Service_. Delphi, what does that sound so familiar?

There's a huge pine tree at the top of the hill. Beyond it I can see a huge house and what I think i a Volleyball court. It looks and feels like the place from my dream. I'm here. I'm finally here.

Suddenly, I can hear a bunch of noise directly behind me. It startles me, and I run onto the property without thinking about it.

While I'm running down the opposite side of the hill, I trip over something - which I later found out was a rock - and quite literally fall into the arms of the boy I've seen in my dreams the past couple of days.

"Woah, slow down there. Where did you come from?"


	6. Chapter 6

(Leo's POV)

I was just relaxing on the hill - well, about to be relaxing, which I rarely get to do - when I see someone take a stumble and start to fall. So, naturally, I went to go and catch them. I saw that it was a girl, but she didn't go to camp here. She must be a half-blood though, or she wouldn't be here.

I manage to catch her before she fell and cracked her skull open on the ground.

"Woah, slow down there! Where did you come from?" I say, standing her up. I'm don't let go of her completely let go of her, though. She looks about ready to collapse.

She looks up at me, and I practically have a heart attack. I've seen her before. In my dreams, I mean. I know, I know, that sounds weird to say I've been dreaming about a girl, but I'm a half-blood, and our dreams usually mean something. Something important.

I can see alarm and surprise in her eyes, too. She's probably had a similar dream to mine the past couple of nights.

"I know you," she whispers "I've seen you before."

"Yeah. I can say the same thing." I whisper back, swallowing my fear and surprise. "Hi, my name's Leo. What's yours?" It's the only thing I can think to say. _I need to get this girl to the big house._ I think.

"Rikki. My name's Rikki." She replies, still staring at me in facsination. It's like she's never seen a boy before, but I don't say anything. She's probably not used to having vivid dreams and then meeting the people in them.

I smile. "Well Rikki. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Now, let's get you up to the Big House, Chiron will want to meet you. Do you think you can make it all the way over there?" I ask her gently, pointing towards the Big House.

She thinks about it for a moment, then shakes her head. Her voice is so soft, I can barley hear her question. "Could you carry me?"

Four small words. I almost tell her no, but the way she looks at me when she asks it, I can't bring myself to say that. Besides, she looks like she's only twelve or thirteen years old, and she's really, really skinny.

"Sure. Piggyback or do you want me to carry you in my arms?" I whisper in response. I don't want her to think that she won't be accepted here.

"Arms, please."

"Sure thing." I say, picking her up and start heading to the Big House. I ignore the funny looks that I get from the other campers and the saytrs. So what if I'm carrying a girl in my arms to the Big House? She's a new camper and she's _obviously_ exhausted. Plus, if I had told her no, she might've gone into a coma from exhaustion.

I manage to make it to the Big House. Argus is standing on the wrap-around porch. He raises an eyebrow curiously, but he doesn't say anything. He never does.

"Could you do me a favor and open the door?" He nods and opens the door. "Thanks."

When I get into the building, I shut the door behind me with my foot. "Chiron?" I call out. " I have someone here that I think you'll want to meet." He comes rolling into the room in wheelchair form. When he sees Rikki, his eyes widen.

"Where did you find her?" he asks, his shocked gaze still fixed on Rikki.

"Well, technically, I didn't find her. She literally crashed into me. She was running down the hill when she tripped over a rock. I caught her before she smacked her head on the ground." I explain to him. I can feel my arms starting to want to give out, but I'm not going to drop her.

"Lay her down on the couch, please, if you will. Is she still consious?"

"Yes." I reply, setting Rikki down on the sofa. As I do, her eyes flutter open. She looks panicked for a moment, and she looks up at me.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the Big House. Don't worry, you're safe. Chiron just wants to talk to you." I start to get up from kneeling beside the sofa when she reaches out and grabs my hand.

"Can you stay?" The look on her face is one of pleading, and she looks somewhat scared. I look down at her hand in mine, and I blush. This girl doesn't even know me, but she wants me to stay. I look at Chiron, and he nods in agreement.

"Yes, I'll stay." I sit back down in front of the couch. She loosens her grip on my hand a little, but she doesn't let go. I don't really think it's strange, she probably needs some comfort, and she doesn't know anybody here. I would know. I was like that once.

Chiron shifts in his wheelchair, then starts his questions in a calm, soothing voice. "What's your name?"

"Rikki."

"Where did you come from?"

"It depends. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas, but my family was on vacation to South Carolina when I started running." That makes me smile. We were born in the same city. Huh. What are the odds?

"You ran here all the way from South Carolina?" I can tell that that surprises Chiron. Most kids who wind up here have a satyr to help them get here. She didn't.

Rikki nods. "I was running for three and a half weeks. I got pretty far."

"You certainly did. How did you know to come here? How did you know that we wouldn't hurt you?" Chiron asks. At that, Rikki looks at me for guideance. I turn around and face her.

"You know, if you had dreams about this place, you can tell him. You won't be treated differently because of it." I whisper. I still don't know if she believes me or not, but she tells him.

"I'd been having dreams..." She lets her voice trail off.

"Ah, I see." That's one of the many great things about Chiron. He doesn't pry or force you to tell him anything you don't want say.

The questioning goes on for a while, and at some point, I fall asleep. I'm woken up by the sound of the conch shell being blow n to signal dinner.

"What was that?" Rikki asks.

"That, my friend, was the signal for dinner. You want to come? You look starving." I tell her. She nods and I help her up. "Dou you think that you can make it to the pavillion? I can't carry you this time."

"Of course I can!" She replies. When we get the pavillion, she asks me where to go.

"Well, I have to sit with my cabin, over there." I point in the direction of my table. "But you'll sit with Chiron over there since you haven't been claimed yet."

"Claimed?" She looks confused.

"You'll find out at the campfire, most likely. Now, I'll see you then, alright?" Claiming is just a little bit to complicated for me to be able to explain. I go over and sit with my cabin, the Hephestus kids.

"Who was that? Your new girlfriend?" one of the boys taunts me.

"Did you guys hear something? It must just be a fly buzzing around here." When I say that, the whole table bursts out laughing.


	7. Chapter 7

(Rikki's P.O.V.)

Dinner was an awkward, silent hour and a half for me, since I didn't know anybody. The camp director, who that boy Leo had called Chiron, was next to me in his wheelchair.

"I never did catch your last name." He says.

"It's Mitchell. Rikki Mitchell." I reply. I'm not necessarily avoiding his gaze, but I don't look him in the eye when I say it.

After a while, I hear the horn - sorry, conch shell - that signals that dinner is over. I stand up and follow Chiron out of the pavillion to a place with a huge bonfire set up in the middle.

"I'm going to assume that this is the campfire?" I ask, not really talking to anyone in paticular. I've been focused on the color-changing flames for a little while, so when Chiron answers me, it startles me back to reality.

"Yes, it is." I turn around to look at him, and I nearly have a heart attack. Chiron is no longer in the wheelchair. He is standing next to me, and his bottom half isn't human.

"You-you're a-a -" I stutter.

"A centaur? Yes, I am." He interrupts me. My reaction doesn't seem to faze him at all. It must happen pretty often.

"I guess you're used to it, huh?" I ask him. "The surprised reaction, I mean." He nods.

"Unfortunatley, yes. But, I don't let it bother me anymore." He says, sighing. He stomps his hoof on the ground, gaining everyone's attention. "Campers! I have some very big announcements!" He shouts, his voice filling the little area. I look around a little awkwardly. I see the boy who caught me - Leo, right? - and I catch him looking at me. We make eye contact and I blush, looking down. Chiron goes on with the announcements, but I'm not really paying attention. He says something about capture the flag, I think. Suddenly, everybody gasps, and I notice that they're all staring at me.

"What?" I ask. Then I realize something else - I'm radiating light, like golden rays of sunshine. I feel something appear in my hand, and i look down to see what it is. It's a giant, golden bow, and I have a quiver strapped across my back. Next thing I know, a whole section of people on the bleachers are cheering, and they run over to me. The leader of the group stops in front of me.

"What's your name?" He asks. He's probably about five years older than me.

"Um, I'm Rikki." I say quietly. I'm not comfortable with all the attention. The boys smiles.

"Well Rikki, welcome to cabin seven. I'm Will Solace, your councelor." They seemed nice enough, so I went and sat with them. There weren't very many girls sitting over here, but I was fine with that. I'd grown up around boys. Everybody sang a few songs, but not me. I just watched everyone. It made me smile, how happy everybody was, and I felt so at home. After a while, everybody went back to their cabins, but I needed to talk to somebody.

"Hey, Leo!" I called out.


	8. Chapter 8

(Leo's P.O.V.)

"Hey, Leo!" I hear someone call out to me. I turn to see who it is, and I smile. It's Rikki. "What was it that happened back there?" She asks, catching up to me.

"You got claimed." I reply, still smiling.

"But what does that _mean_?" She still looks somewhat confused, so I start to explain it to her.

"Being claimed is when your godly parent comes out openly and says that you are their child. I'm a son of Hephaestus, god of the forge and fire." She scrunches her eyebrows. "And you, my friend," I tap her nose gently. "Have been claimed by Apollo, god of the sun and archery." She shakes her head.

"I'm still confused." I laugh a little bit.

"Your head councelor can explain it to you. Sleep well!" By this point, we've reached the cabins. I start to walk towards mine, but she just stands there.

"Leo?" she calls softly.

"Yeah?"

"I don't know which cabin is mine." I menatlly slap myself across the face. How could I be so stupid? Walking back over to her side, I point to the solid gold cabin right next door to mine.

"That's cabin seven. You'll do all your daily activities with them. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I add quickly when she looks unsure. She nods and gives me a quick hug.

"Okay. Goodnight!" She says, walking up to the door of her cabin. She's cute, but in a little sister kind of way. I head into my own cabin. Cabin nine. I change into my pajamas and climb in bed and say "Lights out!" everybody hops into their beds and the lights shut off. It takes me a little while to fall asleep, but eventually I do.

The next morning when I wake up, I notice that I'm the last one up. That happens more often than I'd like to admit, considering that I'm the head councelor for the cabin. I stretch and haul myself out of bed. I get dressed and brush my teeth. I finished just in time, because I heard the conch shell being blown right as I walked out of the bathroom. I scrambled and pulled my shoes on, then led my cabin to the dining pavillion. We sit down at our table, and I see the Ares, Apollo, Iris, and Hermes cabins heading over. For once, cabin seven wasn't the last cabin to show up.

After all the cabins are seated, the nymphs brings us plates overflowing with breakfast foods like eggs, toast, and bacon. Things like that. Before anybody eats anything, we all get up and scrape part of our meal into a bronze braizer. After we do that, we walk back to our seats and we all dig in.

"Good morning." I hear someone from the Apollo cabin say.

"Good morning to you too." I reply to Rikki. She seems really shy, but evidently she trusts me. I'll have to ask her if she'd been having those dreams too. "Did you sleep well?"

She nods. "You?" I nod too.

"Can I ask you a question?" I can tell that her guard went up slightly when I said that.

"About what?" she replies warily.

"This is going to sound weird, but, did you have dreams about me or the camp or something before you got here?" I expect that she might not answer, or that it might really, _really _surprise her. Her eys widen a little bit, but besides that she stay calm. She nods slowly.

"Yes, I did, but how did you know that?" I sigh and preoare to explain.

"Because I dreamt about you a few times before you got here." She looks at me with a shocked expression

"What?" I nod.

"We're demigods, our dreams usaully mean something." She nods agian. I'm not sure if she really understands, but I let the subject drop. I can tell that she doesn't want to talk about it anymore. After breakfast, everybody files out of the pavillion and to their cabin's first activity. I wave goodbye to Rikki as she and the Apollo cabin walk off to archery and I lead my cabin to the forge


End file.
